Words fly at library meeting

Board member says she'll fight a German Twp. branch 'every step of the way.'

Board member says she'll fight a German Twp. branch 'every step of the way.'

March 28, 2006|MARGARET FOSMOE Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- St. Joseph County Public Library board member Christyne Woolridge will fight the proposal to construct a branch library in German Township. "I am totally not in favor of building a German Township Branch. I'm going to fight you every step of the way," Woolridge told library director Donald Napoli during a library board meeting on Monday. Her comments came in response to public opposition over the possibility that the LaSalle Branch Library, 3232 W. Ardmore Trail, will be closed if a new northwest-side branch is built in German Township. The LaSalle Branch has faced declining use and circulation, according to library administrators. "Statistics can be used to sway any way you want to go," Woolridge said. Woolridge vowed she will appear before the County Council, the state tax board and any other public body to kill the German Township proposal. Her comments came during a meeting at which library board members were asked to vote on a proposed 2007-2009 capital improvement projects plan. The plan includes spending for construction of the planned new Lakeville Branch and a feasibility study for the proposed German Township Branch. No decision has been made about the fate of the LaSalle Branch. Napoli said he will make a recommendation to the board later this year. Woolridge accused Napoli of already having made up his mind. "You are bound and determined you are going to build in German Township. I can see it in your gray hair and eyes," she said. Board member Tony Luber noted that the library board discussed a German Township Branch several years ago and voted to move ahead with the project. "Don't try to do any mumbo jumbo," Woolridge told Luber. "Just be quiet and let me talk." She admonished Napoli and Luber several times to stop speaking. The library board voted in 2001 to spent $300,000 to buy three acres of land in German Township for a future branch library. The property is on Cleveland Road, just east of the Meijer store on Portage Avenue. No opposition was expressed at the time. It was not until a few years later that discussion began about the possibility of closing the LaSalle Branch when the German Township Branch opens. The board voted 4-1 Monday to approve the capital projects plan, with Woolridge in opposition. (Two board members were absent.) Luber made a motion that the library board's committees meet and discuss how to meet service demands on the northwest side. The motion passed, with Woolridge casting the only dissenting vote. Napoli made a reference to confidential library board information having possibly been shared with the school board. Woolridge viewed that as an accusation and denied having shared information with the school board. "I think you are lower than a snake to even bring it up," she told Napoli. The Lincoln Way West Gateway Association, a neighborhood group, has been rallying community support to save the LaSalle Branch. Group chairman Jerry Niezgodski presented the library board with petitions bearing more than 1,600 signatures of people urging that the LaSalle Branch remain open. West-side residents Rufus and Ursula Chatman spoke against closing the branch. The LaSalle Branch is vitally important to the city's near northwest side, where many residents are poor minorities, Rufus Chatman said. "If you close that library, it would be a tragedy," he said. He accused Napoli of not being concerned about the inner-city community. Ursula Chatman said she is appalled that the board would consider closing the LaSalle Branch. "You'd take it out of the black community and put it in the white community," she said. Staff writer Margaret Fosmoe: mfosmoe@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6329